Cox brings Border Tour to county

The next stop on state Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox's Border Tour 2004 is Columbia County.

Cox will visit seven county schools on Friday as she visits school systems on the outer edges of Georgia.

"Earlier this year, she decided that she wanted to visit the systems that were the furthest away from metro Atlanta," state Department of Education spokesman Kirk Englehardt said.

Having visited 16 school systems thus far, Cox hopes to check in on 40 systems by the end of the calendar year.

Many parents and educators can't make regular trips to Atlanta to voice their concerns. The Border Tour is for them, Englehardt said.

"A lot of these folks don't have the luxury of traveling to Atlanta once a month to participate in a state Board of Education meeting," he said. "This is an opportunity for us to bring everything that we have to them."

The superintendent wants to discover what challenges are facing schools outside of the state capital, Englehardt said.

"It's easy for politicians to sit here in Atlanta and pontificate, but it's quite another thing to get out there into the school systems and see what's going on, on the front lines of public education in this state," he said.

The tour ends with Cox meeting with teachers, parents and students at Greenbrier High School. However, she also will speak to county Republicans at a monthly breakfast meeting on Saturday.

"She answers a lot of questions and clears up a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings," Englehardt said.

"Education is a complex issue across the nation, and the state of Georgia is no exception."

State Superintendent Kathy Cox's itinerary when she visits Columbia County:

North Harlem Elementary School at 10 a.m.

Grovetown Middle School at 11 a.m.

Lewiston Elementary School at 11:45 a.m.

Evans High School at 12:30 p.m.

Lakeside High School at 1:45 p.m.

Stevens Creek Elementary School at 2:30 p.m.

Greenbrier High School at 3:30 p.m.